Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge

The weather was disappointingly gray and cold this morning when we woke up.  We had been promised a sunny day with temperatures in the 70s.  I don't think it got above the 50s all day, although the sun did peak out a few times.  As I've already expressed to a few of you, the hard truth is this:  We can leave the ice and snow back home in Oregon, but it is still winter all over the northern hemisphere.  We can hope for good weather, but expecting it only leads to disappointment.

We still made good use of the day, however.  I traced two more stitcheries onto fabric since I finished the one I was working on.  I'm almost finished with a second one (different quilt) too.  Mike used the time to fill up our fresh water tanks.  After we'd done some chores, we headed over to Furnace Creek and picked up a few things at the general store.  Also, I got some postcards and some stamps.  (I haven't sent any yet.)  Then we headed into the ranger station to pay our usage fee.  I asked the ranger about something I'd seen on TV about a research project involving a lot of water some place in Death Valley, and a rare form of pupfish.  He directed us to a place we hadn't previously known existed.  There is a national wildlife refuge just outside the park, and a part of the wildlife refuge is a tiny disconnected part of Death Valley National Park known as Devil's Hole. 

It was about a 30-mile drive to get there, and it was well worth our time.  (It was also a good thing to do on a cold day, since we spent most of our time in the car.)  There was a visitor's center where we were directed to two boardwalks--one right there at the visitor's center and the other just up the road.  The former was known as Crystal Springs and it led us back to a natural spring that flows from a vast underground aquifer system.  These systems are also known as "fossil water" because it takes thousands of years to move through the ground to reach the surface.  A geological fault acts as an "underground dam" blocking the flow of water and forcing it to the surface into 30 seeps and springs.  Over 10,000 gallons per minute flow year round, most of which come from seven major springs.

Essentially, this is a wetlands that covers 12,736 acres.  It is the habitat for at least 24 plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world.  Back in the 80's this area was slated to be developed into a resort area with residences and golf courses.  Then, no less than four different species of endangered pupfish were found in the area, and the whole thing was sold to the Nature Conservancy.  Eventually, it was donated to the US Fish & Wildlife Refuge, and now it is in the process of being restored.  These are some of your stimulus dollars at work.  There is a newly constructed boardwalk

along with some nice picnic areas.  These two boardwalks provide a self-interpretive trail that leads back to the main event.  On the first of the two, we walked back along Crystal Springs, which flows swiftly at 2,600 gallons per minute.  Interestingly, the water is very warm at 87 degrees Farenheit, and smells faintly of sulfur, although it is crystal clear and potable.

The first boardwalk ends at Crystal Pool, where we were able to see one of the pupfish species, the tiny Amargosa pupfish.  They are silvery and lapis blue in color and about the size of a child's thumb.

And the water is really as blue as it appears in this image.  It's almost like having a little bit of the tropical blue seas right in the middle of the desert.  The second of the boardwalks is much the same in appearance, and it ends at Kings Pool, where it was quite easy to see the pupfish below the surface of the water.  I tried to get a picture of them, but they really are too tiny to really see in a small image.  Here is the Kings Pool, which was even more blue in color than the Crystal Pool.

Not surprisingly, the Native American tribes used these areas because of the abundance of drinking water.  There were also endemic plants that they used as food, and an abundance of wildlife for hunting.  I can imagine this was a wonderful oasis in an otherwise forbidding landscape.  Here are some of the ancient grinding areas where the women ground a variety of grains into meal.  I apologize that the image is a little cock-eyed because I was having to shoot over a railing.

These "holes" were as much as a foot deep, and so it's clear that they were used for decades, if not centuries, before they were abandoned.

After spending some time on these trails, we drove to the last site we wanted to see, and of the three, this is the only one that is a part of Death Valley National Park:  Devil's Hole.  This is the attraction I had seen on TV, although I can't remember now what I was watching.  Devil's Hole is the surface opening of an extensive underground cavern that is mostly filled with water.  It is almost 50 feet below the outside ground surface.  The pool is not accessible to visitors, but is visible through this chain-link fence.  It is covered at any place where someone might try to climb over and the rest of the area is all covered with barbed wire.  They are serious about keeping people out.

There is a limestone shelf with an area of only about 80 square feet, and under water less than 3 feet deep is the only habitat of the Devil's Hole pupfish.  This is incomparably the most restricted habitat of any vertebrate animal in the world, and at times, the total fish population is less than 100 fish.

The continued existence of the Devil's Hole pupfish depends entirely on limits to the amount of water that can be pumped by agricultural pursuits in Ash Meadows.  The Nature Conservancy purchased the area after these limits were confirmed by a US Supreme Court ruling.  The situation is critical for the fish.  Because of their endangered status, Devil's Hole itself cannot be entered by casual visitors--only scientiests who are doing research on the pupfish.  It is possible to see it through the fence and into the cavern.

This is what Mike and I love about Death Valley.  I believe this is our fifth visit, and we have explored it extensively.  Still, we continue to find new and interesting things every time we come.  Here is what the surrounding wetlands looks like--oh yes, and there was snow on the ground in places.

Sorry the picture is a little dark.  The sun was setting by the time I pressed the shutter on this image. 

And then there was this at the entrance/exit to Ash Meadows:

Those are motorhomes underneath so that you understand the scale of this thing.  Don't ask me.

Tomorrow we plan to make a drive through Artist's Palette, which is something we did on a previous visit.  I'd like to try to get some better pictures than what I already have.  And if we're feeling energetic, we might take a hike out to the North Hole in the Wall.  We've done a lot of hiking in Death Valley, but I don't believe we've ever seen this.  More later.